The no torque argument doesn’t really cut it anywhere other than in a Top Trumps situation. I drove my mate’s S1 231 and it was fantastic. No noticeable lack of oomph compared to any other car I’ve driven, and a lot more in many cases.
mpg is virtually the same whether you pootle or redline every gear change, and technically it’s better for the engine to redline it than not, so it can be an immensely fun car.
As for engine swaps, I’ve seen a couple of Supra turbo engines shoehorned in and they look silly fun.
